Plate-metal car end



Apr. 17, 1923. mmm@ H. S. HART PLATE METAL CAR END Filed Jan. 8, 1921 Patented Apr. 17, 1923.

HARRY S. HART, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PLATE-METAL CAR END.

Application filed January 8, 1921. Serial No. 435,793.

To all fui/tomi t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Ham-:Y S. HART, a citizen oi the United States, residing at Chicaoo, in the county oi Cool; and State of Illinois, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements in Plate-Metal Car Ends, ot which the following is a speciiication.

This invention relates to an end for railway cars and is designed primarily tor gondola cars, but it may be used on cars of other types.

The invention has for its object to provide a construction ot car end which'` will be self sustaining, particularly under loads which may be imposed thereon at points lat erally remote from the place ot' suspension; thereby rendering relatively unimportant end sills or other heavy transverse load-sus taining members.

The invention proceeds upon the principle of incorporating in, and integrally with, the sheet or plate which forms the end wall ot a car, stiffening ribs so disposed that a load imposed vertically at one point in the end will be transmitted as strains oi' tension and compression to a point in the end laterally oifset from the loading point and where the end will be provided with its main vertical support. Preferably, and in the embodiments of the invention herein disclosed by way of illustration, the end receives its support at its middle point, as, for instance, upon a center sill or draft member, and the metal end on either side of the ven tical line of this center support is pressed between dies to form ribs leading diagonally from the vertical line of loading to the vertical line ot main sustension, such diagonal ribs serving either as tension or compression members, according to whether they are inclined from the middle downwardly and outwardly, Aor upwardly and outwardly, and additional ribs being disposed to coact therewith in completing the truss as members of compression or tension as the case may be. Additional ribs or corrugations may be pressed into areas of the metal end which, are not initially concerned in the primary distribution of stresses which characterizes the invention, and these will serve mainly to stiften the intermediate areas and render the end less vulnerable against impact in direc- -tions other than in the general plane of the sheet.

In the accompanying drawings-- Figures l and 2 represent, in elevation, two car ends in which two embodiments of the present invention are, respectively, incorporated; and

Figure 3 is a modification ot the form shown in Figure 2.

In Figure l, 1 represents the end plate of a gondola car, and 2 the center sill oi: such a car. The plate l is pressed between dies or otherwise Jformed orf fashioned to provide ribs 3 extending diagonally from the respective sides of the plate to the center. In this form of plate, the diagonal. ribs 3 extend downwardly and inwardly so that loads imposed vertically upon the side marginal portions of the end plate will be transmitted inwardly through said ribs as stresses oi compression. This distribution of stresses of compression will load the area ot t-he plate lying between said ribs with stresses of tension which will gradually decrease from the upper edge toward the meeting point or lower ends of the compression ribs. To adapt the plate to withstand these strains of tension, a tension rib 4, is pressed into the upper portion of said area, and this terminates at a point suiiiciently near the ribs 8 to strengthen the sheet against the stretching influencent the vertical loads which the ribs 3 transmit. An additional rib or ribs la may also be located in'the area between the diagonal ribs, it desired.

5 represents strengthening ribs which may be disposed in any desired numbers in the areas between the compression ribs 3 and the lateral margins of the end plate.

According to Figure 2, the diagonal ribs 3a extend from the upper central portion of the end plate to the lower marginal portions thereof, so that vertical loads imposed on said marginal portions will be transmitted upwardly and inwardly to the center line ot the plate as loads of tension. To vertically sustain this central portion ot the end plate, one or more compression ribs 6 are introduced so that the loads transmitted inwardly and upwardly by the tension ribs Bwill be transmitted vertically to the center sill 2 by the compression member or members 6. It a plurality of vertical compression members are te be substituted 'for the member 6 in Figure 2, they will preterably be arranged as suggested at 6, 6, and

6b in Figure 3. In Figures 2 and 3 the areas of the plate not immediately concerned with the transmission of its load, may be pro vided with stiifening ribs and 5b.

From the foregoing ldescription it will be seen that the end plate which will,A ot' course7 be attached at its margins to the usual angle iron o1' other framing of the Car, will be adapted to transmit vertically imposed marginal loads diagonally inward to the vertical center line of-the plate throughthe medium of diagonal ribsextending from the margins to-said center line, and these ribs will be sustained by coacting members that will combine therewith in the distribution ot the stresses to 'form a complete truss. In Figure l the guide or transmitting ribs are located to serve as members otcompres'sion and the coacting truss members asimembers of tension; whereas 1n Figures 2 and 3 the diagonal 'members serve as members of ten- `sion andtheir coacting member or members are Aunder compression.

IY claim: 1.In a railway car, a: center sill', an end wall,` vsaid end wallbeing a one-piece meinber provided with ribs to transmit to said renter sill downward forces applied adjacent tothe sidesof acar,said ribs including diverging compression ribs extending from afpointdirectly'above said center sills to points at the upper corners of said end wail and a horizontal tension rib lying intermediate of, but terminating short of the upper ends of said diverging ribs.

2. In a railway ear, a center sill, an end wall, said end wa-ll being a one-piece member provided with ribs to transmit to said center sill downward forces applied adjacent to the sides of said ear, said ribs including diverging compression ribs extending from a .point directly above said center sill to points at the upper corners of said end wall, and a horizontal tension rib lying-in termediate of the upper ends of said direi-ging ribs.

3. A complete end wall for a railway car comprising a single integral, vsubstantially members for directing forces remote from said center Asill to a region above said center sill.

-HARRY S.; HART. 

